Across the Border: Kings Cross: Bars: Kings Cross Hotel

I used to walk straight by the Kings Cross Hotel without giving the pub a second glance. But now I linger and stare and spy and it's safe to say I have a massive crush on this building because for once it has been given a makeover that befits its grand presence on the streetscape of Kings Cross. Gone is the garishly ugly, suburban-club-style signage that appeared above its doors when it reopened following a $9 million overhaul in June 2008. Instead the only signage is the original grand lettering on the top of the building and rather than looking away, your eyes are drawn up by the plants that now decorate the hotel's numerous Juliet balconies. The building is alive again. When the hoardings came down and it reopened following this $20 million refurbishment, I couldn't wait to go inside . . .

The ground floor bar is just like a regular pub, with bar seating, club chairs and televisions mounted to the walls. It's cosy; not all that exciting, but is a vast improvement on its former stark style, which featured cold tiled floors and uncomfortable looking cafe-style seating.

But the first best part of the pub is the first floor: 

What could be more fabulous than spending the night drinking with the Coca-Cola sign for company. There's also ample opportunities for spying on people on the street. 

It's also a good place to eat as the kitchen is on the same floor. When I went with my friend on Saturday night I had a $12 steak and he had $16 nachos. The menu ranges in price from $8 for chips to $26 for an eye fillet with mash, spinach and pepper sauce. In between, there's about 16 other items including Tasmanian salmon with lemon mash, asparagus and tomato ($21) and a KX burger with chips ($16). On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, the kitchen also offers $12 specials, which includes Chili Mussels and Fries. 

On the second floor is the FBi Social space, which is one of the rare intimate live music venues in Sydney. Gigs are organised by the independent Redfern-based radio station, so the music is likely to be very good. The Chaser comedy team also held a show in the space a couple of weeks ago and I think they have another one coming up.

In a couple of weeks, the third floor of the Kings Cross Hotel - the one directly above FBi Social - will open with a 70s themed FBi Social spillover lounge:

The space is fitted out with comfy-looking sofas, which will apparently help to absorb the sound of the bands playing on the floor below, as the music will be piped into the lounge. 

That beautiful wooden box (above) is one of the building's original elevator carriages and is apparently going to be used as a photography studio, where FBi Social punters can have their portraits taken. 

So how do I know about all these grand plans and dreams? Because when I returned to the hotel on Tuesday to take some better pictures, one of the lovely hotel people offered to take me on a tour of the building. Oh, grand! 

So they have friendly staff, who are also locals, which is a good sign. 

The charming young man also took me up to the fourth floor of the Kings Cross Hotel where a new bar, Feted Glory, (or was it Faded Glory?) is scheduled to open in two months.

I had actually peeked at the space while snooping around the building on Saturday night, but this time I was introduced to the designer, Brian P, and artist, Andrea Davies (below) who was busy at work painting murals on the walls:

The room is all Baroque Bacchanalian with warm tones, gilt furnishings and Rubenesque nudes peering down from the walls. Perhaps they found some of their furniture at Royalty Prussia?

I am sure Feted/Faded Glory will be the scene of many debaucherous parties, so long as it attracts the right crowd.

The next floor up, is the Level Five Rooftop, and the only way to get there is by taking one of two lifts from the ground floor. Don't hesitate: visit the rooftop as soon as you can, just so you can see the bloody marvellous view during the day:

And at night (with 311 Bus):

The view also looks west to the city:

While at night, the rooftop is lit up with dozens of fairy colourful lights:

But by far my favourite treat of the guided tour was seeing what's inside the tower. Ever since it reopened, I have been obsessing about the corner tower. At night I could see lights on inside and I desperately wanted to have a look. And as much as I want to show you the pictures I have taken, I am worried about ruining the surprise and mystery. Think: Arabian Nights; VIP.
But I can't resist showing you the tower's view:

And I love the way the Horizon always juts into frame:

Before my Tuesday tour I had spent the entire morning researching the history of the Kings Cross Hotel, so there was an added thrill in being led through the space with all the colourful hotel stories still fresh in my mind. It almost gave me goosebumps. The hotel's history is rich but I had to trawl through dozens of historical newspaper archives on the excellent Trove website to discover just the smallest jewels of information to piece together its past. 

It all begins back in the late 1800s when the James's Victoria Hotel stood on the site:

There are very few references to this hotel period in the archives. The picture above was taken in February 1911, just prior to its demolition. The building is obviously in the Victorian style, but I can't find the exact decade it was built. Based on other historical records of the day, I suspect it was built sometime in the 1880s. The site was owned by Mr R James and family. On the 20th of June, 1892, Mrs James placed a wanted advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald:

''A good general servant wanted at once, another kept, own family, only 1. Mrs James, Victoria Hotel, Kings Cross.''

The next mention of the James's Victoria Hotel was on Friday, March 6, 1914, when the Municipal Council of Sydney, who had resumed the land, published a notice in the Sydney Morning Herald inviting tenders for the lease of the site.

Under the 30-year lease conditions was a building covenant of 13,000 pounds, meaning potential lessees had to demolish the building and spend a minimum of this amount erecting a new hotel. 

The tender was won by Annie Mozzall (nee McCarter), from Kingsford, in Sydney's south, who had married her second husband, builder Thomas Richard Mozzall, in 1904. So technically the first licensee of the Kings Cross Hotel was a woman.

In May 1914, Ms Mozzall assigned all her rights under the agreement to Frederick James Kelly, who in turn gave the lease to Toohey's, who had agreed to then grant a sub-lease to Mr Kelly to be licensee of the new establishment.

Bizarrely, I can find no reference to exactly what year the Kings Cross Hotel was built and opened, but my guess is 1915-1916. I don't even think there is a date on the hotel's parapet. This photograph was taken in the 1930s:

The Federation Freestyle five-storey building was designed by Eric Ernest Lindsay Thompson, of Lindfield, in Sydney's north, and cost 13,500 Pounds to build. Thompson also designed the similar Macquarie Hotel on Wentworth Street on the edge of Surry Hills, colloquially known as The Mac Hotel. 

Archival architectural illustrations by Thompson show that alterations to the ground floor of the Kings Cross Hotel were approved by the council in August 1917, but it is unclear what exact changes were made.

That same year in November, licensee Mr Kelly and his wife Catherine, were sued by Walter Avery, of 454 Bourke Street, Surry Hills, for alleged negligence in the District Court. Avery wanted 100 pounds compensation after claiming the Kellys's ''so insecurely and improperly fixed a sign board on the hotel premises that it fell and struck the plaintiff who was passing by.'' 

Unfortunately the Sydney Morning Herald's court reporter failed to follow up the case and write about the judgement.

While Toohey's retained ownership of the site for 30 years, the sub-licence changed hands countless times during that period. For history's sake here is a list of licensees, based on details from the Metropolitan Licence Court:

Mostyn Molony  - unknown to May 1923

William Thompson - May 1923 to August 1925

Alfred Monmus - August 1925 to April 1927

Lena Jane Monmus (executrix of the late Alfred's will) - April 1927 to unknown

William Thompson - unknown to February 1933

Arthur Horsman - February 1933 to August 1933

Reginald Gordon Rickard - August 1933 to March 1936

Frederick Smith - March 1936 to unknown

Ethel May Tinker - unknown to September 1938

Martha Jane Doyle - September 1938 to unknown

John Elwyn Doyle - unknown to October 1939

Frank Fitzpatrick Johnson - October 1939 to unknown

John J Trouville - unknown to December 1940

Thomas Lawrence O'Toole - December 1940 to unknown

Yes, I admit, there is a lot of unknowns. Licensee Mostyn Molony took Toohey's to the High Court of Australia in April, 1932, trying to claim back a compensation fee he had paid to the Liquor Board, which he later felt he shouldn't have been liable for as sub-licensee. Again the final judgement in that case was not reported.  

In The Sydney Morning Herald's January 4 1933 edition, there appeared under the headline ''Theft of Mug'' the sad story of James Henry Hassard, aged 19, who was charged at the Central Police Court with stealing a beer mug, valued at ninepence, from the Kings Cross Hotel. 

When asked by the prosecutor Mr MacDougal SM, why on earth he did such a thing, Hassard replied: ''I was under the influence of liquor.''

Mr MacDougal SM responded with: ''You have no right to be at your age, it is like your impudence to say so. You ought to be smacked.''

Poor young, drunken Hassard was fined 1 Pound, 10 Shillings or three days imprisonment with hard labour. It is not known if he was also smacked for good measure.

Although the above photograph would suggest otherwise, by 1936 - the year before this picture was taken - traffic around Kings Cross was proving a problem and a danger for pedestrians. In October, 1936, Linda Prince of Potts Point, wrote a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald proposing the demolition of the Kings Cross Hotel as a way to ease traffic. The removal of the hotel, she claimed, ''would give an uninterrupted view for traffic coming from the city, would eliminate the two dangerous curves, and form almost a square at the section in Bayswater Road, instead of the bottle-neck now existing.''

While Ms Prince's frightening proposal was never taken up, it wasn't the last time the idea would emerge.

But until then Toohey's faced other problems. Toohey's lease was due to end on June 13, 1944 and in March of that year, the Finance Committee of the then City Council called for tenders for the new lease.

Toohey's had been paying 1500 Pounds a year plus rates, taxes and insurance and they again applied for a new lease, but an objection was raised in the Legislative Assembly about whether it was within the law for Toohey's to hold a liquor licence for more than one establishment. The lease was deferred for two years but in February 1946, the City Council accepted Toohey's tender to lease the hotel for another ten years at 181 Pounds, 10 Shillings a week - the highest tender on offer.

But again the lease hit difficulties when the Federal Government intervened, for the most remarkable of reasons:

''The Delegate to the Treasurer has informed the council that the proposed rent is too high and that a fair rent is 123 Pounds a week,'' the Sydney Morning Herald reported in September 1946.

''The present rate is 93 Pounds a week plus rates, taxes and insurance.

''Alderman Harding said that since calling for tenders the council had adopted the Kings Cross Traffic Circus Scheme, which would involve the demolition of the Kings Cross Hotel.''

So the demolition scheme was back on the agenda with the council's plans to create a circuit at the junction of William and Victoria streets to allow for a smoother flow of traffic.

The hotel was only saved by the wrecking ball because of money: the proposed circus would cost 492,150 Pounds, which was far too expensive for the council. And so the hotel remained.

I'm not sure what kind of life the hotel had during the 1950s to the 1980s. There are rumours it was once run as a classy bordello by a woman called Kitty Kelly, who was a friend of the famed dominatrix, Madame Lash.

At some point, probably during the heritage-green 1980s, it was painted in this particularly fast-dating shade. In the late 1980s, the hotel was owned by Steve Larkin's Rofalo company and operated under the moniker, Oz Rock Cafe. Dr Larkin sold the hotel to Lady Mary Fairfax's Amalgamated Hotels in 1992 for $3.3 million. 

I remember visiting the hotel soon after when there were nightclubs playing retro music operating on the upper levels. It was fairly run down by that stage and continued to be unloved for the next decade, failing to meet safety conditions, until it was purchased by Brian Perry's company, Repeller Nominees, in 2002 for $8.5 million. 

The hotel underwent a $4 million refurbishment to meet safety requirements the following year but it was becoming clear the building needed more than a cosmetic makeover, it needed major surgery.

Getting the development application approved through the City of Sydney council wasn't so easy however, and Nicholas Back Architects fought a three-year battle in the Land and Environment Court to gain approval for the glass frontage and other amendments, as well as the 24-hour, seven day a week trading hours. 

Interestingly the hotel is not listed on any heritage register, but a heritage impact statement tendered to the court did note its landmark status in Kings Cross and is architectural significance. 

In 2006 the hotel shut its doors and under the passionate direction of heritage-lover Perry, the building was brought back to life. Officially Perry dropped $9 million on the redevelopment, but I suspect it was much more. Nicholas Back Architects converted the back of the hotel into apartments and workers laboriously stripped the hotel facade of the green paint using an environmentally friendly soy-bean paste. The building was gutted and restored to its former glory. 

The only problem when it reopened in June 2008, was that there seemed to be no money left for clever marketing. And then, of course, there was that awful signage above the front doors as well as the unwelcoming, seemingly sterile foyer-style ground floor bar. 

I did a straw poll among my Kings Cross friends last week and none had been to the Kings Cross Hotel after it reopened in 2008 - despite the fact they are all enthusiastic drinkers and lovers of the neighbourhood. 

The hotel stayed open for about a year, until it was sold, in October 2009, to Top Ryde Nominees, a company owned by pub king, Bruce Solomon.

Solomon is a director of Solotel, a hospitality group that runs 18 drinking holes across Sydney, including the Darlo Bar, the Green Park, The Clock in Surry Hills, Newtown's Courthouse Hotel, The Golden Sheaf in Double Bay, The Paddington Inn and the Opera Bar.

So it seems the Solomon Group has more than enough experience and expertise to make the Kings Cross Hotel a success. I would just hope that they make sure to market the place to locals. A pub is nothing without locals. Perhaps they could introduce a badge for people in the 2010 and 2011 postcodes so that we can buy $3 schooners. The old, storm-damaged Bourbon did this, and they had a loyal following.

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ARCHIVE PICTURE SOURCES: Trove, City of Sydney Archives.

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Kings Cross Hotel

248 William Street

Kings Cross NSW 2011

02 9331 9900

http://www.kingscrosshotel.com.au/

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Hours:

Sunday to Thursday - midday to 3am

Friday to Saturday - midday to 6am

Darlinghurst: Public Transport: Village to Village Bus

If you have been reading My Darling Darlinghurst for a while, you may know about my passion for the 311 Bus; that wonder on wheels that glides through the suburb like a phantom. Sometimes you see it, sometimes you don't, sometimes you can hail it, but most of the time it never appears and you are left wondering if the 311 ever existed at all. 

But while I love the 311 Mystery Bus, recently a new people-mover has been vying for my patronage. The Village to Village Bus runs through the neighbourhood on Thursdays and Fridays. It begins its route down at the Mary Macdonald Activity Centre on Bourke Street, Woolloomooloo and then moves up through Kings Cross, Darlinghurst and on to Central Station and Redfern.

So it traverses much the same route as the 311 but unlike the 311, the Village to Village Bus costs absolutely nothing for a ride. Yes, it's hard to believe, but some things in life are still free. 

So now, at the end of the week while going to work, instead of seeing this:

I see this:

It's a much cosier ride and the driver is really chatty. Because it is a small bus, whenever I catch it, I feel like I am part of some weird church group or school student going off on a day trip to the museum. It definitely has that community bus vibe about it. The bus takes the community route too, stopping at St Vincent's Hospital:

The Village to Village Bus first began spinning its wheels through the streets of Sydney in 2007, with a limited route between Redfern, the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on the outskirts of Newtown, and inner city Glebe. 

It is run by the South Sydney Community Transport group and funded by the City of Sydney council as a means for residents without cars to connect to shops, health care and other services. 

The Woolloomooloo to Redfern service, which I catch, was established in 2008 and last year they extended the route to include Onslow and Billyard avenues in Elizabeth Bay. 

The council committed a further grant of $36,000 in the last budget to keep the service going. But I imagine they won't continue the funding unless people catch it, so if you happen to see it cruising along, make sure you flag it down and go for a free ride. 

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Village to Village Bus

Every Thursday and Friday

Woolloomooloo to Redfern

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TIMETABLE 

(use the times as a guide to the stops in between)

TRIP ONE:

8am: Mary Macdonald Activity Centre 

8.15am: St Vincent's Hospital

8.45am: Poets Corner, Redfern

TRIP TWO:

9.45am: Mary Macdonald Activity Centre

10am: St Vincent's Hospital

10.30am: Poets Corner, Redfern

TRIP THREE:

11.30am: Mary Macdonald Activity Centre 

11.45am: St Vincent's Hospital

12.15pm: Poets Corner, Redfern

TRIP FOUR:

1.30pm: Mary Macdonald Activity Centre 

1.45pm: St Vincent's Hospital

2.15pm: Poets Corner, Redfern

TRIP FIVE:

3.15pm: Mary Macdonald Activity Centre 

3.30pm: St Vincent's Hospital

4pm: Poets Corner, Redfern

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The Village to Village bus stops at most of the usual bus stops.

There are also four trips in the reverse direction. 

Timetables are available from the bus and from the council's website here.

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www.ssct.org.au

Darlinghurst: Public Transport: The 311 Bus

A small part of my week is taken up by scenes such as this:

And this:

And this:

It may not look like the greatest place to be, but while I'm seated there, looking at the backs of people's heads, I couldn't be happier, because I have just managed to catch the 311 Bus. And that's no easy feat.

The 311 Bus - or the 311 Mystery Bus as it is known to dozens of Darlinghurst's residents who spend a great deal of time waiting at the bus stop for the ride that never arrives - is a vehicle that inspires mixed emotions.

When it fails to show up, or arrives early so that I miss it, I curse the damn thing and then fork out $10 for the cab to work.

But when it arrives on time - and the driver actually sees me and pulls over - I just love that bus.

Then there are the other times when I'm in no need of public transport and I see the 311 waiting impatiently at the lights, rearing to go:

Or just storming past in a blaze of blue paint and petrol fumes:

It is during these moments that I feel compelled to turn to the person nearest to me and say, ''Look! There's the 311!''

Such is its phantom-like allure.

The 311 route could not be more efficient. It begins its journey down at the loop in Elizabeth Bay, chugs up Greenknowe Avenue, cruises along Macleay Street, hoons along Victoria Street and tears down Oxford and Elizabeth streets along the edge of the CBD to Central Station.

From my bus stop on Victoria Street, it takes me only 10 minutes to arrive at work on the 311.

There's also a 311 Doppelganger bus that begins its route at the Elizabeth Bay loop and ends at Circular Quay, near Sydney Harbour, but that doesn't service Darlinghurst residents.

Darlinghurst instead has the 389 Bus from Bondi Junction in Sydney's eastern suburbs, which happens to pass along Burton Street and down through Little Italy (in the Darlinghurst Valley or Flats) on its way to the Quay. It is a bus that isn't purely devoted to the suburb and I only use it when I need to go to David Jones department store, because it stops right outside the door on Elizabeth Street.

There's also an army of buses that plough along Oxford Street on their way to and from other places, but I am not interested in those itinerants.

To catch the 311 it is useful to have one of these:

You can buy the TravelTen ticket at most convenience stores in the area and for $16 you can take ten rides on the 311 that would normally cost $20 if you were paying by cash.

The alternative commute to Central Station from Darlinghurst is by train, which departs from nearby Kings Cross, but that costs $3.20 for a one-way trip.

There is also this bus:

But it costs $30, cruises around the city endlessly and is designed for tourists.

The other thing I love about catching the 311 is the curious people, overheard conversations and occasionally interesting graffiti that can be found inside its hallowed interior.

I have seen some strange commuters, usually nervous-looking middle-aged men, who hop on the bus at Taylor Square and then alight at Whitlam Square, a journey of about 500m that would be more efficiently traversed on foot. These people are not elderly, generally look healthy and I often wonder about their motivation. Perhaps, like me, they just simply love being on the 311.

I also spent one trip listening in to a conversation between two women in which I received a detailed account of one's mental health history and whether or not she was presently going through a manic period. Judging by the tone and volume of her voice, I gave her a positive diagnosis.

Then yesterday, while luxuriating in the sun on the 311, I spotted this collectable sticker on the back of a seat:

Here's a close-up:

The caption reads: Disappointment, Number 4 in a Series.

I wonder if the man in the photograph is standing at a bus stop somewhere in Darlinghurst, still waiting for the 311.

Darlinghurst: My Story

I first moved to Darlinghurst in 2002. I had been living in share-houses in East Redfern and Surry Hills but so desperately wanted a place of my own. The reason for selecting Darlinghurst was because it had, and still has, so many more studio apartments than Surry Hills or Redfern, which have mostly terrace houses and one- and two-bedroom apartments.

I only looked at one studio apartment in Darlinghurst and I was smitten. It was at 7/40 Hardie Street, next door to Flash Auto Repairs - run by the charming Peter - and just a skip away from the Darlo Bar, Green Park Hotel and the 311 bus stop.

The picture above is one of the few photographs I have of apartment number seven and was taken on a special day (face flowered for privacy) and here is a photograph of 40 Hardie Street (to the left) that I took the other day:

The rent for apartment number seven was $170 a week and $5 less than I was paying in the share-house. It was small but I didn't know any better. The kitchen was an afterthought, the bathroom had a sliding-door and the windows looked out to brick-walls and a light-well, but I loved it because it was my own.

The 12-room apartment building sold for $1.56 million two years after I moved in and was purchased by three young, and very clever, men (Arthur, Lans and Sava). They were good landlords and never put the rent up. One of them even kindly came to remove a huntsman spider that had made itself a home in the corner of the room above my bed.

I lived at number seven for five glorious years, hosting cosy (squashy) dinner parties for six, befriending the local cats and falling in love with the neighbourhood.

But my book and dress collection was steadily growing and it was clear I needed more space, so when the apartment next door - number eight - became available, I asked if I could have it. The following week I carried all my possessions about 2m to the place next door.

Number eight was a dream. It had beautiful windows that looked out on to Hayden Lane and to the rear of French restaurant Sel e Poivre, so that the kitchen staff's musical Gallic accents came floating up into my home. Another positive was that the apartment also had a bathtub.

Here is a picture of number eight:

I loved that apartment to death and even had it painted a gorgeous shade of yummy, rich clotted-cream before I moved in. I also installed a paper blind in the kitchen and thick-cream, light-blocking curtains in the main room. Sadly I wasn't to stay there for very long.

After just six months of living in luxury I accepted a job far, far away and in April 2007 moved out of Darlinghurst and gave up number eight for someone else.

Here is a picture of my last day at number eight, when I had to hand over the keys:

To be honest, I was actually glad to be moving out of Darlinghurst and Sydney. I was frustrated by my job and needed to move away from the stinky city I had grown to hate. I especially loathed the excessive planting of Plane trees, which shed fine, pollen-coated hairs every Spring and cause so much grief for my poor throat and nose. I was tired of hearing about rising property prices and the fact that every time I stepped out the door, life seemed to cost me $50.

So I moved to the seaside where I had ocean views, a car-space and a verandah for only $170 a week - 1990s prices!

For the first 18 months I was fine. I returned to Darlinghurst and the surrounding suburbs regularly to see my then lover-boy and other friends and it was almost as if I had never left.

Almost. After that first honeymoon phase I began to miss my old neighbourhood. I missed walking the streets at night, the noise and the characters.

There was one particular scene of the neighbourhood that I would replay in my head. It was walking home at dusk from Taylor Square and then alongside the National Art School, towards Burton Street. There would be a sense of peace about the neighbourhood as fruit bats in their thousands flew overhead from the Royal Botanic Gardens to search for their evening feast, while the city's workers also made their way home for dinner.

The strongest, most memorable image of that walk though, is of a large gothic-looking house on the corner of Forbes and Burton Streets, which would be in silhouette against the dying day. I loved that house at that time of day. It thrilled me for some reason. I'm sure I have a photograph of it somewhere too. (I was pleased to see today that the house is still there. Although it looks like the Caritas psychiatric hospital across the road is soon to be demolished to make way for a fancy apartment block - more on that another day.)

So anyway, I missed old Darlo and badly wanted to be back in number eight, as if the whole move out of Sydney had never happened.

I set about plotting my return and in September last year began looking at Darlinghurst studios and discovered that rents had gone up by $100 a week in the 2.5 years I was gone. It was sad, but there are worse things to spend your money on.

I trawled through the rental ads on Domain.com every waking hour for weeks and it was on a Saturday morning when I finally found what I was looking for. I am very picky. It had to be a 1930s-40s build, so that I would have high ceilings and none of that porridgey stuff they started spraying on ceilings in the 60s. It also had to have light: don't want to be depressed. And polished floors. A built in wardrobe (I don't want to own another piece of furniture). And a bathtub would be dandy too.

The place on Royston Street appeared to have everything. I dashed to the real estate agency as soon as they opened up shop and put in an application, which was approved by Sunday night and on Tuesday I inspected it and the keys were in my hands.

Here is a picture of Royston Street:

It is not the greatest street in Darlinghurst. One has to hike up Oporto Hill (or Vomit Hill, as it appears on Sunday mornings) to reach it, and it is surrounded by the dastardly plane trees, but it will do for now. Secretly, I still want number eight back.

Here is a picture of the view from my sunroom across the rooftops of Paddington with St Vincent's Hospital to the right:

Here is a picture of the view from my kitchen window, down to Rushcutters Bay and over to Darling Point. I can actually see the Moran family's mansion, Swifts.

Happy, happy to be home...

UPDATE: October 2011: I am now employed by the City of Sydney and feel that I should declare my interest here in case I should ever by accused of bias.
I have just left an industry that I loved for 10 years to embark on this new adventure and I am very excited about my new position at Town Hall, especially because I will be able to pop down to the City of Sydney Archives in my lunch breaks. And hopefully this can only be a good thing for my My Darling Darlinghurst.
Opinions, thoughts and adventures will remain my own and I still make no money from this blog; it has and always will be a labour of love.